In recent years, Dr. Ciaran Parker, a learned and prominent historian who lives in Cavan Town, completed a transcription of a manuscript compiled by Dr. John Edward O’Reilly of Annagh in the 1840s. From this we know that this branch of the O'Reillys belonged to the ancient Clonmahon sept of the O'Reillys.
The following excerpt from this manuscript is of interest."From the same stock is the present J.E. O'Reilly Esqr. of Anna near Belturbet (the author). His father, the late Hugh O'Reilly Esqr. of Anna, was for seventeen generations on both sides of the house an O'Reilly. In 1793 he was chosen delegate by the Catholicks of Cavan and enjoyed a similar honour in 1815. His mother was in right of her maternal Grandfather Edward de Gernan Senior of the parish of Gernanstown in the county of Louth. In 1784 his Brother Doctor Edmond O'Reilly dedicated his inaugural dissertation at Leydon to Alexander Count O'Reilly which bears honourable testimony to the house of O'Reilly".
The following excerpt from this manuscript is of interest."From the same stock is the present J.E. O'Reilly Esqr. of Anna near Belturbet (the author). His father, the late Hugh O'Reilly Esqr. of Anna, was for seventeen generations on both sides of the house an O'Reilly. In 1793 he was chosen delegate by the Catholicks of Cavan and enjoyed a similar honour in 1815. His mother was in right of her maternal Grandfather Edward de Gernan Senior of the parish of Gernanstown in the county of Louth. In 1784 his Brother Doctor Edmond O'Reilly dedicated his inaugural dissertation at Leydon to Alexander Count O'Reilly which bears honourable testimony to the house of O'Reilly".
I am also greatly indebted to an article in “Breifne 1986” by Fr. Hugh O'Reilly C.S.Sp on the O’Reilly family of Annagh from which I have taken almost all of the following information.
Dr. O'Reilly, of Annagh, studied both in Edinburgh and Dublin and qualified in Trinity College as an MD in 1827, was active politically and was a close friend of The Liberator Daniel O'Connell. Annagh House, had been purchased by his family in 1795 and renovated in 1830/31. It was in 1828 that Dr. Edward O’Reilly became the owner of this house and several estates previously owned by his brother, Walter. Apparently Walter, who was a barrister by profession, in addition to inheriting serious debt from his father amassed several additional debts of his own. These became unmanageable for him and he transferred all his properties to his brother, Dr. Edward, together with their mortgages. He then emigrated to France where he died, it is thought, in the year 1838 in the city of Rouen. Dr. Edward established the “Butlersbridge and Urney Dispensary” in a room in the village rented from a Robert Wallace from at least 1844 to 1847 where he acted as the medical attendant.
The Anglo Celt in February 1846 ( http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Cavan/1848/FEB.html) carried the following report.
"CAVAN ASSIZES
These assizes commenced on yesterday. Richd. FOX, Esq., High Sheriff, entered the Record Court at 12 o'clock, and proceeded to swear in the following Grand Jury:--
T.L. CLEMENTS, Esq., Foreman Right Hon. Earl of Bective
Hon. H.C. BUTLER, Lanesboro Lodge
Henry T CLEMENTS, Ashfield
James HAMILTON, Castlehamilton
Wm. RATHBORNE, Kilcogy
Abraham BRUSH, Drumbar Lodge
John E. VERNON, Bingfield
Wm. A. MOORE, Arranmore Lodge
Michael PHILLIPS, Glenview
Robert CLIFFORD, Carne Cottage
John THOMPSON, Prospect
Joseph DICKSON, Bailieborough
John GUMLEY, Belturbet
Wm. TATLOW, Lismore
John BAKER, Ashgrove
Joseph DICKSON, jun., Drummully, Esqrs.
After the Grand Jury were sworn, John Edward O'REILLY, of Anna, Esq., rose and addressed the High Sheriff as follows:- Mr. Sheriff, I wish to know why my name has been omitted from the Grand Jury panel of this county? The reason, I believe, is because I am a Roman Catholic. I can conceive no other; inasmuch as for the last twenty years I have been a resident and freeholder of this county, and at all times coperated(sic) with the Earl of Farnham and others in maintaining the public peace. I stated these particulars to you, Mr. FOX, at our interview.
The High Sheriff-- When I left out your name, Mr. O'REILLY, I ws not aware of your religious belief.
Mr. O'REILLY-- The fact of my being a Roman Catholic could not be unknown to you, as I had several transactions with yourself in the lifetime of John James, late Earl of Farnham, and from those of the jury, but I most unhesitatingly assert that you have upon this panel many men my inferiors in recommended by my sham friends; but I solemny protest against it.
The High Sheriff denied that he omitted Mr. O'REILLY'S name, because of his being Romain Catholic; but declined stating anything further.
Mr. O'REILLY then left the court....."
Dr. O'Reilly died on 3rd September 1848 of English cholera when, with his wife, he returned to Chester for his mother-in-law's funeral. He had been married for just eighteen months to "an amiable English lady of great fortune" according to the Anglo Celt in September 1848. He was buried in his wife's family vault (the Chamberlaine vault) at the Priory, Birkenhead. He was survived by two sisters and his wife Janetta.
The Anglo Celt in February 1846 ( http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Cavan/1848/FEB.html) carried the following report.
"CAVAN ASSIZES
These assizes commenced on yesterday. Richd. FOX, Esq., High Sheriff, entered the Record Court at 12 o'clock, and proceeded to swear in the following Grand Jury:--
T.L. CLEMENTS, Esq., Foreman Right Hon. Earl of Bective
Hon. H.C. BUTLER, Lanesboro Lodge
Henry T CLEMENTS, Ashfield
James HAMILTON, Castlehamilton
Wm. RATHBORNE, Kilcogy
Abraham BRUSH, Drumbar Lodge
John E. VERNON, Bingfield
Wm. A. MOORE, Arranmore Lodge
Michael PHILLIPS, Glenview
Robert CLIFFORD, Carne Cottage
John THOMPSON, Prospect
Joseph DICKSON, Bailieborough
John GUMLEY, Belturbet
Wm. TATLOW, Lismore
John BAKER, Ashgrove
Joseph DICKSON, jun., Drummully, Esqrs.
After the Grand Jury were sworn, John Edward O'REILLY, of Anna, Esq., rose and addressed the High Sheriff as follows:- Mr. Sheriff, I wish to know why my name has been omitted from the Grand Jury panel of this county? The reason, I believe, is because I am a Roman Catholic. I can conceive no other; inasmuch as for the last twenty years I have been a resident and freeholder of this county, and at all times coperated(sic) with the Earl of Farnham and others in maintaining the public peace. I stated these particulars to you, Mr. FOX, at our interview.
The High Sheriff-- When I left out your name, Mr. O'REILLY, I ws not aware of your religious belief.
Mr. O'REILLY-- The fact of my being a Roman Catholic could not be unknown to you, as I had several transactions with yourself in the lifetime of John James, late Earl of Farnham, and from those of the jury, but I most unhesitatingly assert that you have upon this panel many men my inferiors in recommended by my sham friends; but I solemny protest against it.
The High Sheriff denied that he omitted Mr. O'REILLY'S name, because of his being Romain Catholic; but declined stating anything further.
Mr. O'REILLY then left the court....."
Dr. O'Reilly died on 3rd September 1848 of English cholera when, with his wife, he returned to Chester for his mother-in-law's funeral. He had been married for just eighteen months to "an amiable English lady of great fortune" according to the Anglo Celt in September 1848. He was buried in his wife's family vault (the Chamberlaine vault) at the Priory, Birkenhead. He was survived by two sisters and his wife Janetta.
The following death notice gives a brief summary Dr. O'Reilly and his family.
On the 3d instant, at his residence, the North Gate-street House, Chester, of English cholera, John Edward O'REILLY, Esq., M. B., of Trinity College Dublin--the O'REILLY of Annagh Abbey, in the county of Cavan.
Some names are peculiarly interwoven with the history of Ireland, and of these not one more noble, pure, or illustrious than that of O'REILLY. This ancient, and once powerful family derives its descent from Heremon, son of Milesius, through Con of the Hundred Battles, monarch of Ireland in the second century, and the heads of which were princes of this county, formerly called East Brefny. The O'REILLYs were stripped of the greatest part of the large possessions of their clan, A.D. 1607, by means of one of those pretended rebellions which it was then the fashion to encourage, in order that the wretched instruments might be robbed of their properties. From that time to the present, the O'REILLYs, like others of Milesian origin, have been only titular nobles.
During the wars of James and William, several members of this house particularly distinguished themselves. Philip Oge O'REILLY and Hugh O'REILLY, or REILLY, Esqrs., represented the borough of Cavan in the Irish Parliament of 1689, and Philip and John O'REILLY, or REILLY, Esqrs., the county. Colonel Edmund Buidhe O'REILLY prevented General Gincle's passage of the Shannon at Lanesborough, and made him retreat with considerable loss. The Colonel commanded under the Duke of Berwich at the battle of Tullagh-Mangain hill (now the "Gallows-hill") just above the town of Cavan, fought on 13th of February 1690, with the English, led by Colonel Wolseley. The Irish were defeated in that engagement by means of the superior artillery of the English, but did not retire until they covered the field with dead. A great many more O'REILLYs, or REILLYs, were in King James's army--vis. Colonel John O'REILLY, Major and Captain REILLY (both of whom were killed in the battle of Cavan), and Father Edmund REILLY, who was one of the royal chaplains. After the treaty of Limerick, Col. Edmund Buidhe O'REILLY retired to France, where he died. From him the subject of this notice, John Edward O'REILLY, Esq., was believed descended.
Dr. O'REILLY, whose decease we now deplore, studied in both Dublin and Edinburgh, drawing his degree of bachelor of medicine from the former university. He was the possessor of a hereditary estate of considerable value. Annagh, near Belturbet, was the seat of his residence. About eighteen months ago he married an amiable English lady of great fortune, with whom he lived happily up to the time of his death. Shortly after his marriage, he with his mother-in-law's decease, a fortnight ago, brought him to England. The excitement attendant upon that painful event probably shortened his own life. He leaves no children, brothers, or sisters, and is therefore the last direct descendant of his old and honourable house.
Through life the Doctor was distinguished for his charity and munificence, and his passionate attachment to the royal house of Stuart. The poor of his immediate neighbourhood have particular reason to revere his memory; he was ever their friend and benefactor. For his kindness to us we shall always feel gratefully indebted. The Anglo-Celt had no truer friend and better patron than Doctor O'REILLY. He maintained its interests at a critical time, when foul tongues were spitting out their slander. With the blood of princes in his veins and the charity of a christian in his heart, he has sunk into an early tomb, deeply, sincerely, and most deservedly lamented.
The following excerpt from the Anglo Celt in September 1848 ( http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Cavan/1848/SEP.html ) reflects the respect for which he was held in the immediate and wider areas.
"Through life the Doctor was distinguished for his charity and munificence, and his passionate attachment to the royal house of Stuart. The poor of his immediate neighbourhood have particular reason to revere his memory; he was ever their friend and benefactor. For his kindness to us we shall always feel gratefully indebted. The Anglo-Celt had no truer friend and better patron than Doctor O'REILLY. He maintained its interests at a critical time, when foul tongues were spitting out their slander. With the blood of princes in his veins and the charity of a christian in his heart, he has sunk into an early tomb, deeply, sincerely, and most deservedly lamented"
In London, in the year 1849, his widow, Janetta, married a Capt. John O’Reilly, believed to have originated from Longford. They returned to live in Annagh where Capt. O’Reilly died in 1859. Janetta continued to live in Annagh until her death in the mid 1880's. Her daughter, also named Janetta, married Timothy O’Kelly, the family coachman and their last surviving son, Joseph O’Kelly, died in 1961.
The property is now owned by Vincent Bartley.
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